MISSISSAUGA, On (September 3, 2020)—PointClickCare, a cloud-based software platform for the senior care market, in partnership with ASCP, a membership association that represents pharmacists, health care professionals, and students serving the unique medication needs of older adults, announced a new tool to help screen patients who may be experiencing Parkinson’s Disease Psychosis.
It is common for those who have Parkinson’s Disease (PD) to experience Parkinson’s Psychosis, an ailment that can manifest in different behaviors such as hallucinations and delusions. Parkinson’s Psychosis is often misdiagnosed, and patients are subsequently put on antipsychotic medication rather than treating underlying issues. Further, behaviors associated with Parkinson’s Psychosis may only be exhibited at night, exacerbating the likelihood that providers remain unaware of the symptoms.
Given challenging diagnosis factors and how prevalent PD is, PointClickCare saw an urgent need to help senior care providers easily diagnose accompanying psychosis. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, more than 10 million people worldwide live with PD. In addition to enabling earlier diagnosis, the screener tool will facilitate a more standardized care process for this disease, allowing the industry to collect better data that can ultimately lead to better outcomes.
The tool is programmed to ask patients a handful of research-based questions covering topics such as hallucinations and delusions. Once the screening is complete, staff can have a conversation with the patient centered on responses. While the tool is not prescriptive, it collects information that enables conversations and provides care planning suggestions for the team.
“Not only will the screener tool better enable faster diagnosis, it will provide the senior care industry with a consistent way of approaching Parkinson’s Psychosis. At PointClickCare, we understand the industry needs a standard approach to care by delivering standardized content that ultimately leads to standard data. Standard data is the only way to look across facilities to identify trends that can potentially provide new workflows and/or lead to new treatments,” said Bill Stuart, Clinical Product Strategist, PointClickCare.
Resulting data collected in the screener will be leveraged as part of PointClickCare’s Lighthouse initiative, to further Parkinson’s psychosis treatment research. This announcement also comes on the heels of the release of PointClickCare’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) solution, a clinical workflow and intelligence solution that helps Infection Preventionists and care teams perform ongoing resident surveillance focused on infection prevention.
“Parkinson’s Psychosis impacts many older people worldwide, and we’re thrilled to play a role in enabling earlier detection so that patients can receive the treatment they need sooner. We are excited to have another tool for care teams to facilitate a more standardized care process for Parkinson’s Disease and we are excited for the role that pharmacists play in this process.” The Parkinson’s Psychosis screener is currently available to all customers who wish to opt-in as part of PointClickCare’s free clinical content offering,” said ASCP’s chief executive Chad, Worz, PharmD, BCGP.
